2016 NZSO-RNZ Concert-SOUNZ Recordings

SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music is proud to announce the works selected for the 2016 NZSO-RNZ Concert-SOUNZ Recordings. The following composers' scores will be rehearsed and performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and recorded by Radio New Zealand Concert in February next year:

“We are really grateful to our project partners the NZSO and Radio New Zealand Concert who bring their expertise and commitment”, says SOUNZ Executive Director, Diana Marsh. “It gives us great pride to be producing these high quality recordings and making them available as streaming audio. New Zealand composers create a wealth of high quality music that deserves to be heard, and we aim for these pieces to be picked up for future programming by a range of orchestras in New Zealand and abroad.”

Orchestra instruments at a Recordings session. Image courtesy of SOUNZ.

The selection panel received submissions from SOUNZ composers in June and selected works to create up to 60 minutes of high quality NZ orchestral recordings.

“Opportunities to have an orchestral work recorded are understandably scarce, so I count myself lucky to be included in the NZSO-RNZ Concert-SOUNZ Recordings”, said Brad Jenkins, one of the selected composers. “For those of us in the relatively early stages of our composing careers, it is a real boost to have a high-quality recording of a major work to put out there for people to hear. It's commendable that our national orchestra is so receptive to performing contemporary works by New Zealand composers.”

This key SOUNZ project, in partnership with the NZSO and RNZ Concert, produces new recordings of orchestral music for public broadcast and online streaming. The project will also deliver a concert for invited guests to promote the works to a range of orchestras and broadcasters.

Composer Patrick Shepherd said, “Having a work presented in the NZSO-RNZ Concert-SOUNZ Recordings is an invaluable part of one's professional development as a composer -- to have the chance to further refine and adapt one's ideas in a supportive environment is, I feel, key to one's on-going learning.”

Read more about the Recordings project on SOUNZ online, where you can also find links to previous recordings and background information about composers whose works have been selected for the project in the past. http://sounz.org.nz/distinctions/show/37